ASX 200 weekly wrap: BHP, Rio Tinto & Telstra shares rise

Strength from the miners, including BHP, Rio Tinto and Newcrest Mining outweighed weakness from the big four banks to lead the local share market higher last week.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 finished the week 0.36% firmer at 5,864 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 0.49% to 5,937 points.

Canstar General Manager of Wealth Josh Callaghan said another tragedy at a Brazilian mine sent the price of iron ore up during the week, which was favourable for the big miners.

Four heavyweight miners – BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals and Newcrest Mining – had some of the biggest market value gains, with BHP adding more than $5.7 billion.

Gold miner Newcrest Mining’s share price received a boost from strong gold prices, but also from its upbeat second quarter update which showed a solid rise in production.

While the miners were in the green, it wasn’t such a rosy picture for Australia’s major banks.

Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and National Australia Bank saw billions wiped from their market values, partly due to increased chatter around sweeping industry changes the banking royal commissions’ final report, to be publicly released today, may recommend, Mr Callaghan said.

“The markets may now have priced in all of the potential bad news related to the commission, however we won’t know what investors think until the market opens again on Tuesday morning,” he said.

Telstra’s market value was boosted by more than $1.4 billion last week after an update from rival telco TPG, which announced it would not proceed with building a rival 5G network in Australia because its technology partner Huawei had been blocked by the government.

Last year the federal government banned the use of Huawei equipment from being used in the rollout of the 5G mobile network, which promises much faster internet speeds.

Huawei Australia said in statement that the ban would lead to reduced competition and higher prices for Australian consumers and businesses.

Shares in Telstra jumped strongly after news the 5G rollout would not go ahead for its competitor.

Meanwhile, shares in infant formula maker Bellamy’s Australia jumped 9.5% to $8.50 to be among the top five biggest share price winners last week, following a positive broker note by Morgan Stanley which predicted Bellamy’s to be close to turning around its business.

Medical equipment company Resmed’s shares continued to slide, dropping 9.4% last week.

The healthcare giant’s share price shed 18% in January as pressure from a weaker-than-expected second quarter result weighed on investor sentiment towards Resmed.